New reporters Nathan Wilson and Aziza Cooper-Hovland and Managing Editor Trisha Walker proof pages on deadline.
Noah Noteboom photoAs I was working on a story about the most recent Hood River County School District (HRCSD) board meeting (see page A8), I needed to reference an article I’d written for a previous publication, specifically about the last time the Local Option Levy passed.
Usually I search our website, but this time I did a Google search — something like, “HRCSD local option levy Trisha Walker.”
My stories popped up, all right, but so did this AI summary:
Trisha Walker is the superintendent of the Hood River County School District (HRCSD) and has written opinion pieces for Columbia Gorge News regarding the district’s budget and potential state-level funding changes. Her work is connected to the district’s local option levy, which has been up for voter renewal, as she has commented on the importance of the funding that the levy provides for district operations.
Imagine my surprise and delight to learn that, even without experience, credentials, or a single interview, I managed to become the superintendent of an entire school district! I’ve never felt education was a calling of mine, but I read it on the internet, so it must be true.
In all seriousness, this is a great example of why we don’t use AI to generate stories or for research. The “intelligence” is indeed artificial — the search engine scrubs the internet and comes up with an answer. That answer may or may not be actually true. Better to use real sources (i.e., experts, trusted news sites, consent agendas and the like) that can be verified.
This particular summary was easy to fact-check — I know my work history. Not only that, I know the actual superintendent, Bill Newton. (I let him know I’d need his office, but once he said it came with responsibilities, I decided to respectfully decline.)What did surprise me is that I’ve been with the paper for almost 15 years as a reporter / editor, and that information is readily available online. You know what isn’t? My being hired as HRCSD superintendent.
Anyway, newspapers such as ours strive for accuracy in all that we do. Because we have human brains, we understand nuance and context, and how to fact-check. Because we have a Gorge local as our owner and publisher (hi, Chelsea!), we are able to get out and report on issues that are important and relevant to our communities.
I’d like to see AI do that.
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